The Times of Israel liveblogged Sunday’s events as they unfolded.
Russia has reportedly requested that Israel not intervene or impede its efforts to transfer defense equipment from Syria to Ukraine.
The Kan public broadcaster, citing an Israeli official involved in the issue, reports that Israeli and Russian officials have been holding conversations in recent days over Moscow’s concern.
Israel and Russia have long coordinated their activities in Syrian airspace in order to avoid any clashes, although Moscow-Jerusalem ties have been strained since Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year.
Thousands of protesters march in Morocco’s capital Rabat, decrying the “high cost of living and repression,” amid surging inflation and rising social discontent.
“The people want lower prices… The people want to eliminate despotism and corruption,” chants the crowd, estimated by journalists to be around 3,000 people, the largest such rally in recent months.
People converged from across Morocco for the protest, which was also called to highlight the cases of several jailed bloggers and journalists.
Liat Ben-Ari, the prosecutor in the ongoing corruption trial of Benjamin Netanyahu, files a police complaint over threats to her son.
Ben-Ari tells the Lahav 433 investigative unit that a Likud operative threatened her and her son in a video he posted, saying he was looking for him and asking where he was.
Ben-Ari has reportedly considered quitting the position due to the wave of threats and vitriol directed at her by supporters of the former prime minister.
United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush reportedly asks for his party to have exclusive control over the annual Lag B’Omer celebrations at Mount Meron, during coalition talks with Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to a report in Walla News, Porush demands that UTJ be the sole body to implement any recommendations from the ongoing state commission of inquiry into the 2021 disaster at the site in which 45 people were killed.
Since then, control over the annual celebrations at the holy site has been a hotly controversial topic, as officials trade blame over the deadly disaster that saw dozens crushed to death due to overcrowding and insufficient infrastructure.
Border Police troops and Military Police soldiers seize an M-16 rifle from a suspect at the Shuafat checkpoint in East Jerusalem, a police spokesman says.
According to police, officers and soldiers searched a car that arrived at the checkpoint, and found the assault rifle in the trunk. The driver, a 21-year-old resident of the Shuafat refugee camp, has been arrested.
The Military Police’s Erez Battalion is due to leave the checkpoint permanently tonight, after a deadly shooting attack occurred there in October.
The probe of the attack pointed to a series of failures and shortcomings that led to a soldier being killed, with the military and police agreeing to pull the battalion from the checkpoint.
Border Police chief Amir Cohen says he praises the battalion for its “professional” work over the years.
“Today, about five minutes before the end of the battalion’s deployment at the Shuafat crossing, a soldier seized an M-16 weapon that could have reached terrorist or criminal elements,” Cohen adds.
WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that the Biden administration will engage with the incoming hardline Israeli government based on the policies that it implements and not by the individuals slated to fill senior roles in the next coalition.
“We will gage the government by the policies and procedures, rather than individual personalities,” says Blinken in the keynote address at the annual conference of the dovish J Street conference. “We will hold to the [s]tandards we’ve established our relationship over the past several decades. And we will speak honestly and respectfully with our Israeli friends as partners always should.”
The remarks come amid speculation that Biden officials will not engage with some of the most far-right members of Israel’s likely next government, such as Religious Zionism chairman Bezalel Smotrich, who is slated to become finance minister, and Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben Gvir, who is slated to become national security minister.
US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides refused to answer a question during an interview last week regarding whether he would meet with Ben Gvir.
Acknowledging the frustration of many in the crowd over the peace process’s digression, Blinken says the Biden administration will do more than just speak out against unilateral moves taken by both parties.
“Simply discouraging the sides from taking steps that undermine prospects for two-states is insufficient. Because the reality is that today, Palestinians and Israelis do not enjoy equal measures of freedom, security or opportunity,” he says.
Visiting the military’s West Bank headquarters, outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid slams international criticism of a Border Police officer who shot a Palestinian stabber dead.
“The government fully backs our troops. We will not allow investigations by foreign parties, we will not accept defamation of IDF soldiers and Shin Bet and Border Police troops who risk their lives every day to protect Israel and its citizens,” Lapid says in remarks provided by his office.
Yesterday, the United Nations envoy to the Middle East said he was “horrified” by the killing of Ammar Mifleh by a Border Police officer in the West Bank town of Huwara. Mifleh had stabbed another officer in the face, and had attempted to stab an Israeli couple in their car, according to Israeli officials.
Lapid also swipes back at criticism from right-wing lawmakers over the jailing of a soldier who taunted an activist in Hebron.
“Against the terror organizations, we need a strong, disciplined army, with a clear chain of command, that operates only according to the law. This is the secret of our strength, this is what created the strength of the IDF,” Lapid says.
Lapid is briefed on recent events by senior army officials at the West Bank headquarters, alongside IDF chief Aviv Kohavi and National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata.
MANAMA — President Isaac Herzog meets with members of Bahrain’s Jewish community in Manama, receiving a prayerbook with an Arabic translation, a book about the history of the indigenous Jewish community, and a copy of the 1931 permit to open the synagogue.
The attendees include community head Ebrahim Nonoo, former ambassador to the US Houda Nonoo, and Bahrain Shura Council member Nancy Khedouri.
The community, which now numbers less than 50 people, was able to form a minyan for Shabbat services yesterday with the help of two visiting Chabad rabbis and members of the US Fifth Fleet stationed in the island kingdom.
The Israel Police say they have arrested a suspect who allegedly aided the suspected killer of Yuri Volkov in Holon earlier this month.
Volkov was stabbed to death at a crosswalk allegedly by Adi Mizrahi, who fled the scene and was captured a day later.
Police say that a 23-year-old man from Jaffa was arrested for allegedly aiding Mizrahi and interfering with the investigation.
US jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney announces it will cease manufacturing compressor blades at its factory in northern Israel by 2025, laying off 900 workers.
The firm says in a statement that the Blades Technology Industry factory at the Migdal Tefen Industrial Zone near Nahariya will begin shutting down in 2024 and shift to the United States, due to “major losses that are only growing.”
The No. 2 MK in the far-right Otzma Yehudit party submits a bill to make the majority of members of the Judicial Selection Committee political appointees.
The nine-member Judicial Selection Committee currently comprises four politicians, two representatives of the Israel Bar Association, and three current Supreme Court justices. The bill by MK Yitzhak Wasserlauf would nix the Bar appointees in favor of two lawyers recommended by the justice minister and approved by the government.
Wasserlauf’s proposed bill states that that it is meant to correct the “moral distortion” it believes comes from having the Bar Association play a role in appointing judges in a way that does not “represent all of the Israeli public.”
The legislation seeks to transfer that power from the Bar’s national council to the justice minister, a position expected to be held in the next government by Likud.
Outgoing Defense Minister Benny Gantz issues a call for opposition parties to join him to fight against the policies of the projected incoming government.
“We will not be silent. We will fight together for the character of the state, in education, the judicial system and the IDF,” says the leader of the Blue and White party.
Gantz calls on all those who oppose the expected incoming right-wing religious government to join his new organization, The Struggle for the Character of the State.
Presumed incoming prime-minister Benjamin Netanyahu says in an interview with a US television network that he will not allow any harm to come to LGBT rights in Israel.
“I just won’t accept any of that. It’s not something I’m saying now — I have a record now and a record in general of having two hands on the wheel,” Netanyahu says during the NBC show “Meet the Press,” noting that “I ultimately decide policy.”
“I’m going to safeguard Israeli democracy, I’m going to bring peace, categorically… and I’m going to stop Iran. That’s what I’m coming back for, and that’s what I’m committing to,” he adds
Netanyahu’s comments come days after he signed a coalition deal with Noam MK Avi Maoz — a far-right anti-LGBT politician who says he wants to ban the Jerusalem pride parade — handing him control over extracurricular programming in schools.
Netanyahu also says that “I doubt” there will be any changes to the Law of Return, which currently allows anyone with one Jewish grandparent to become a citizen.
Asked about former US president Donald Trump’s recent meeting with avowed antisemites Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, Netanyahu says it is “not merely unacceptable, it’s just wrong,” but makes a point to praise Trump for his positions on Israel.
The Likud leader also says that once he takes office he will deliberate the issue of providing military assistance to Ukraine.
“That’s one of the issues I’m going to take up,” Netanyahu says, noting that it is a concern that “requires careful deliberation.”
Protests in Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida province turn violent, leading to the deaths of a protester and a police officer, and wounding seven others.
Anti-government demonstrations are rare in Syria where President Bashar Assad stamped out a pro-democracy uprising over a decade ago. Assad survived the resulting civil war but the conflict has plunged Syria into poverty, coupled with a food security and energy crisis.
Though Sweida has generally been spared from the civil war, anti-corruption protests have occurred in the Druze-majority province over the past few years, with tensions simmering between residents and the Syrian government led by Assad.
Dozens of residents gather by the Sweida governorate building, decrying the dire economic situation and chanting anti-government slogans before some break into the building.
The Syrian Interior Minister in a statement says that the people who raided the building were armed, and destroyed furniture, smashed windows, and looted files. The statement adds that a police officer was killed after protesters attacked a police station.
The Hamas terror group posts footage of its members launching anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli fighter jets over the Gaza Strip early this morning.
The missile fire came as the Israeli Air Force launched strikes against Hamas in response to an earlier rocket attack on southern Israel.
The Israeli jets were not damaged by the missiles, but still targeted a Hamas post in response.
According to experts, the missile-launching system Hamas is using against the Israeli fighter jets is highly unlikely to be successful.
#شاهد | الدفاعات الجوية التابعة لكتائب القسام تتصدى للطيران الصهيوني المغير على قطاع غزة بصواريخ أرض-جو فجر الأحد 04-12-2022م pic.twitter.com/nUwJxAXZ10
— الرسالة للإعلام (@Alresalahpress) December 4, 2022
MANAMA — Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdul Latef Al Zayani says his country is “truly looking forward” to working with Benjamin Netanyahu and his emerging government.
Zayani notes that Netanyahu was a signatory of the Abraham Accords in 2020, and says Bahrain is eager “to further work on the successful achievements we have done together.”
The foreign minister stresses that he is convinced that Netanyahu believes in peace, and in the principles of the Abraham Accords.
Zayani does not mention Iran in his prepared remarks, and when asked, he says Manama’s policy is to pursue peace. He also says that he does not believe that the JCPOA nuclear deal will lapse.
Three Chinese astronauts land in a northern desert after six months working to complete construction of the Tiangong station, a symbol of the country’s ambitious space program, state TV reports.
A capsule carrying commander Chen Dong and astronauts Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe touches down at a landing site in the Gobi Desert in northern China at approximately 1210 GMT, China Central Television reports.
The three astronauts were part of the Shenzhou-14 mission, which launched in June. The Tiangong is part of official Chinese plans for a permanent human presence in orbit.
Security forces have located the site of a rocket impact, after it was launched from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel last night.
A crater is found in a wheat field close to the border town of Nahal Oz.
The rocket was not intercepted, as it was heading for an unpopulated area.
Early this morning, the Israeli Air Force struck targets in the Gaza Strip in response to the attack.
מיקום נפילת הרקטה ששוגרה הלילה מרצועת עזה, שדה חיטה בקיבוץ נחל עוז@bokeralmog pic.twitter.com/oFQ2Qiu1pe
— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) December 4, 2022
Iran is scrapping its morality police after more than two months of protests triggered by the arrest of Mahsa Amini for allegedly violating the country’s strict female dress code, according to local media reports.
Women-led protests, labeled “riots” by the authorities, have swept Iran since the 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin died in custody on September 16, three days after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran.
“Morality police have nothing to do with the judiciary and have been abolished,” Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri is quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
His comment comes at a religious conference where he responds to a participant who asked “why the morality police were being shut down,” the report says.
After a series of violent and even deadly road rage incidents in recent weeks, the Israel Police is establishing a special team to investigate the issue.
According to the police, the team will be led by the head of the Israel Police traffic unit, Yehuda Ben Atar, and will present a series of suggestions to prevent such incidents in the coming months.
“Reducing the phenomenon of violence in the State of Israel is a national mission,” says Ben Atar, who notes that police are already boosting their presence at major junctions and highways. The police aim to provide personal security to every resident of Israel, he adds.
Earlier this month, a man was stabbed to death while crossing the road in Holon after his wife pointed out to a motorcycle driver that he should not be driving while the light was red. A week earlier, a man was hospitalized with serious brain injuries after a motorcycle driver used his helmet to repeatedly smash him in the face.
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